NEWS NATIONAL NEWS
Twittering star
Edmund King, president of the Automobile Association (AA), became involved in a ‘twittering war’ with Manchester digital agency Stardotstar over the promotion of rival iPhone parking applications. Stardotstar has
launched its Nosey Parker app attracting more than 5,000 downloads. According to the company, the AA has broken the rules of iTunes in an eff ort to promote its own rival app. Both systems help
drivers fi nd parking spaces, but in their posting on social network site, Twitter, the company said the AA’s app, which
launched on 1 April, appears when ‘Nosey Parker’ is typed into iTunes. T is is a tactic that Apple doesn’t allow. In its rules, the company states: ‘Do not include keywords of other applications or use terms, product names, brand names, or entities that are registered trademarks which you do not own the rights to.’ Gareth Langley,
Stardotstar’s director of business development wrote an open letter to King. ‘What we didn’t
expect was to type in the name of our app in the App Store search engine and see your app. Only three elements are queried
when someone searches in the app store: the app name, the developer’s name and the keywords, and the Apple guidelines make it clear that using other apps’ names in your keywords is not allowed. ‘We therefore
formally ask you to remove all references to our app in your keywords with immediate eff ect.’ King replied: ‘@
NoseyParkerApp Get a Life. Happy Easter. Don’t understand you RT?’ He has apologised
for both his ‘tweeted’ reply and the misunderstanding, and both parties agree that the matter has been resolved.
OWN RULES, CLAIM
Parking Services contractor APCOA has claimed that a £13m annual contract to supply civil enforcement offi cers was steered by Westminster Council to a ‘preferred tenderer’ when NSL’s contract expired this year, according to the
Evening Standard.
The contract had been awarded to Mouchel, but has since been withdrawn and re-opened for tender, owing to fl aws in the process.
APCOA claims the process was carried out in defi ance of the council’s own rules and bidding criteria. The paper reported that APCOA was preparing to sue the council for up to £50m, with the company arguing in legal
Think before you send… the AA and Stardotstar became embrolied in a twittering exchange.
papers that the council ‘should have corrected the unlawfulness by assessing the
WESTMINSTER DEFY
claimant’s tender by reference to the published criteria. Had it done so, the claimant would have won the contract.’ Kevin Goad,
Westminster’s head of commissioning for city management, said it had ‘stopped the procurement process for its on-street parking enforcement following the discovery of a fl aw in the contract process’. An accelerated procurement process will follow and a new tenderer should be announced in June. Goad continued: ‘Under the process the council reserves the right not to award a contract and we are confi dent this claim will be dismissed.’ A spokeswoman for APCOA declined to comment. NSL is continuing to provide the parking enforcement.
A HEAVY COST AS FAKE IDENTITY REVEALED
A bank worker used her
mother-in-law’s disabled parking badge to park for free all day in Birmingham city centre, a court heard. Kamaljit Kaur Nahal, of West Bromwich, put the badge on her dashboard in a pay-and- display parking bay to avoid paying charges while she was
8
MAY 2010
at work at the Royal Bank of Scotland, in Brindleyplace. She pleaded guilty at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court to fraudulently using a disabled parking badge. Magistrates fi ned her £140 with £200 costs and ordered her to pay a £15 victim surcharge.
Nicola Lea, prosecuting, said a Birmingham City Council traffi c enforcement offi cer saw Nahal park her car in a bay in Sheepcote Street at 8.20am last September and place a disabled badge on the dashboard.
‘Inquiries to Sandwell Social Services revealed the badge
Newsdesk: 01223 273526
editor@britishparking.co.uk
APCOA challenges
Westminster on contract award.
had been issued to a 73-year- old female,’ Mrs Lea said. When Nahal had still not returned by that evening, a tow truck took her car to a compound. Wykeham Garcia, defending, said the badge had been in Nahal’s car because she often ferried her mother-in- law around.
www.britishparking.co.uk
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